Transportation Agency Sues Airline for Fuel Purchases

A Chicago-area transportation agency, the Regional Transportation Agency (RTA), is accusing United and American Airlines of using sham offices to dodge taxes, but it’s only suing one of them because the other is in bankruptcy.

The RTA says Chicago-based United Airlines buys and accepts jet fuel out of a small office about 60 miles west of Chicago, but it’s delivered to its planes at O’Hare, which is in the city limits.

The transportation agency says it has lost millions of dollars that would fund public transportation because United cut a deal in which it pays some $300,000 a year to DeKalb County. That’s far less than the sales taxes United would pay to Chicago and Cook County.